_Princess_.

"Ah! that's a thing you've no business to ask about; but if you must
know, it lies under the door-sill," said the _Giant_.

"Ho! ho!" said _Boots_ to himself under the bed, "then we'll soon see
if we can't find it."

Next morning the _Giant_ got up cruelly early, and strode off to the
wood; but he was hardly out of the house before _Boots_ and the
_Princess_ set to work to look under the door-sill for his heart; but
the more they dug, and the more they hunted, the more they couldn't
find it.

"He has baulked us this time," said the _Princess_, "but we'll try him
once more."

So she picked all the prettiest flowers she could find, and strewed
them over the door-sill, which they had laid in its right place again;
and when the time came for the _Giant_ to come home again, _Boots_
crept under the bed. Just as he was well under, back came the
_Giant_.

Snuff--snuff, went the _Giant's_ nose. "My eyes and limbs, what a
smell of Christian blood there is in here," said he.

"I know there is," said the _Princess_, "for there came a magpie
flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the
chimney. I made as much haste as I could to get it out, but I daresay
it's that you smell."

So the _Giant_ held his peace, and said no more about it. A little
while after, he asked who it was that had strewed flowers about the
door-sill.

"Oh, I, of course," said the _Princess_.

"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this?" said the _Giant_.

"Ah!" said the _Princess_, "I'm so fond of you that I couldn't help
strewing them, when I knew that your heart lay under there."

"You don't say so," said the _Giant_; "but after all it doesn't lie
there at all."

So when they went to bed again in the evening, the _Princess_ asked
the _Giant_ again where his heart was, for she said she would so like
to know.

"Well," said the _Giant_, "if you must know, it lies away yonder in
the cupboard against the wall."

"So, so!" thought _Boots_ and the _Princess_; "then we'll soon try to
find it."

Next morning the _Giant_ was away early, and strode off to the wood,
and so soon as he was gone _Boots_ and the _Princess_ were in the
cupboard hunting for his heart, but the more they sought for it, the
less they found it.

"Well," said the _Princess_, "we'll just try him once more."

So she decked out the cupboard with flowers and garlands, and when the
time came for the _Giant_ to come home, _Boots_ crept under the bed